Shooting the breeze with Roey - Interview with Mark Roe

Where did life as a professional golfer start for Mark Roe?
With a big reality check. I turned pro in 1981 thinking I was pretty good, then went to tour school and realised I was mistaken. Standing on the range with players like Gordon Brand Jr and Paul Way I realised I just wasn't good enough. I missed my card that first year by four or five shots, then went back home and faced the dilemma a lot of players had back then: you've turned pro, but missed your card – what do you do? Do you accept you're not good enough and apply to get your amateur status back or do you become an assistant and work in a shop? Those were basically the only options. I was very lucky in that I knew a professional on the Wirral, Clive Scanlon at Arrow Park, and he told me he had belief in me as a player and said I could be his ‘assistant' but basically I could play all the golf I needed to progress. I was able to stay at home in Sheffield and play in all the local and regional events.

So you don't exactly have experience as a retailer?
Er, no, not really. Within six months it became apparent to the PGA that there was a young lad masquerading as an assistant who seemed to be playing an awful lot of golf but not spending much time working in the shop. So I had to move from home to the Wirral, and that was probably the trigger that defined the improvement of my game and my career as a professional. I moved out of my comfort zone to a new environment. At first I stayed in a B&B in New Brighton. It was horrendous, full of blue rinses. I felt lonely and homesick. But it was cheap. I used to hit balls on the beach when the tide was out and one day I had a chance meeting with a local assistant pro called Ian Higby, who was at Heswell Golf Club. He invited me around to his house for dinner and as the evening wore on Peggy, his mum, suggested I sleep on the sofa rather than go back to my digs. It was nice to be around a family, and that is what they became – my second family. I slept on that sofa for two and a half years. When I look back I cannot believe the sacrifice they made. I started winning regularly and at the fourth visit to Q School I earned my Tour card in '84, having won the Liverpool Assistants', Cheshire Open, Cheshire Match Play, and I played well all year.

You played in the golden era of European golf – Seve, Faldo, Woosie Lyle & Langer. What was it like embarking on your career in that period?
While I was elated at the opportunity, I felt like a fish out of water. Think about it: you've gone from playing in regional events with your mates to sharing a stage with some of the best players in the world. You look across the range and there's Bernhard Langer, or Nick Faldo, Seve. It's unbelievably daunting. You don't feel like you belong there at all – at least I didn't. It's like being at school with a defined hierarchy above you. But at the same time you're right – it was the golden era for European golf and very exciting for it. The European Tour was taking off an there were a lot of great players emerging.

Which added to the pressure of retaining your card?
Massively. The other thing you have to remember is there was no real money around in those days, not at the lower levels. I was lucky; I had three and half grand in sponsorship, which gave me a cushion to start with. But it might only pay for a quarter of the season. So there was always that sense that you had to earn money to stay out there. And that puts extra pressure on you, believe me. I really struggled the first season. I was good friends with Robert Lee, a very talented player, and we used to travel together and share expenses. Late in the first season it looked like I was going to lose my card and I was pretty down on myself as we travelled to the Cannes Open at Cannes Mougins. Robert had a great week – and would go on to win his first tournament – and I remember a conversation which went along the lines of me saying ‘Oh, you're alright mate, your going to do well this week and you'll be OK. I'm going to lose my card'. To which he replied, ‘You will lose your card if you don't relax and learn to enjoy yourself out there – you're too uptight. Walk along the fairways humming a song or whistling – you've got to learn to relax to let your talent come through.' I thought about what he said and I had a good week, finished in the top-10 and that won me around £1,100 which helped to keep my card in my first season on tour, which is an achievement. Gradually I felt more comfortable on tour, finished about 39th in 1986 with around £26,000, and went from there.

Do you remember the first time you teed it up with one of the Big Five?
I can clearly remember the first time I played with Seve. It was at the Dutch Open at Hilversum in 1987. It was a good week, we were both teeing up the last round with a chance to win, and as I walked to the first tee and I honestly felt like a Rowntrees jelly. I didn't feel like I had control of the muscles in my body. I walked on to the first tee and shook hands with the man who was my hero, I'm first to hit, and my only concern was getting the ball on the tee peg, because I had a feeling I might fumble. I thought ‘just make contact with it – get it going forward'. And I actually flushed it up the middle. Then Seve teed off. And you know Seve has the most wonderful capacity for knowing how you feel. He walked off the tee with his arm round my shoulder and said: “Good shot, it's not easy, is it?” From that moment I felt I had a friend in Seve. His advice and help has been with me throughout my career. I don't remember a huge amount about the round itself, but we came to the last green and I knew I was a shot or so ahead of him. Beyond my wildest dreams. I had no more than eight or ten feet for birdie. I whacked it a foot and a half past and missed the one back. Seve made a birdie. I shook his hand but I couldn't speak. We ended up on the same score. I was gutted. He put his arm around me and told me I'd played great and this was the start of a good career. I felt about 10 feet tall. You couldn't think of Nick Faldo doing that, or some of the other guys on tour. That was Seve's way.

When you play in the company of someone like Seve, what are the special qualities you notice?
As incredibly nervous as I was, I noticed how calm he was. I noticed just amazing focus in his eyes. And also the sheer passion and the joy of playing golf. It was almost the harder the shot, the more he relished the opportunity to show what he was capable of. That stuck with me. But from a professional perspective, more than any of that, was the way he took time to speak to me, to try and calm me down. He's immensely classy. Obviously his short game was magical, the spin control and the flight of the ball. You take all those things on board almost subconsciously. But don't forget, at the time, you're focusing on trying to win a golf tournament, so you don't want a masterclass while you're shooting 80.

Is Seve the ultimate golfing hero for you?
Without a shadow of a doubt. He became what I consider a friend. Through problems off the golf course as well as on it. That ran through to what I consider my most memorable day ever in golf, when I played a practice round with Seve on the Sunday afternoon before the 1996 Masters. He'd promised me this a couple of years before, that if I ever made it to Augusta we'd play a practice round. I didn't really think any more about it. I qualified in '96 and Seve was there on the practice round. He walked straight over and said: “We tee off in one hour.” That experience will stay with me forever, it was goose bumps on the arm, it was Boy's Own stuff, watching a true genius navigate the unique challenges of Augusta National. That was when you saw the real imagination of a magician landing the ball on glass-like surfaces. I think one year at Augusta Seve hit six greens and shot 69. He's a genius.

What would you rank as your greatest achievement in golf?
In terms of achievement, no win is more special than another. I won the Lancome Trophy in 1992 with the winners of 16 major championships in the field, so that felt good. Keeping my card for 21 years is something I'm proud of, to play 524 tournaments on the European Tour is quite something. Only 14 guys have actually done that. In years to come that will be increasingly hard to match. Winning the Catalan Open at Pals in 1989 was incredibly special to me because my father was ill at the time and I knew he wasn't going to get better. For me there was no better way to repay my parents back for all their support over the years than to make that call to my dad on the Sunday night to tell him that I had just beaten Jose Maria Olazabal by a shot to win. I think he was the most exuberant then he'd ever been in his whole life. I could hear him shout to my mum, “Phyliss, he won, he won!” I can still hear him shouting to this day.

Was the Ryder Cup as big a deal in those days as it seems to be now?
Oh yeah, definitely. I had a realistic opportunity to make the team on two occasions. Tony [Jacklin] had obviously shaken things up I the early '80s and there was a real buzz about the Ryder Cup. Europe were very strong, which obviously didn't make it any easier to get into the side. 1989 at the Belfry was probably the one time I really did feel I might get in. I won the Catalan Open that year, and finished second in the French, tied with Langer at Chantilly. Philip Walton was 11th and didn't get in. I think I was around 13th in the Order of Merit. Jacklin went below me on the table to pick Christy O'Connor Jr. There was much talk in the locker room that Jacko had picked Christie because he hadn't picked him before and had taken a lot of stick in the Irish press.

The year Christy hit that glorious 2-iron to the 18th...
There you go. It was meant to be. But I think if Jacklin had seen me play that year he may have been tempted to include me. At the end of the day I thought I was in with a shout, but it's history. I can't grumble. I've played in the World Cup on three occasions and also the Dunhill Cup under the old format at St Andrews. I actually beat Greg Norman there head to- head over the Old Course.

That has to be worth bragging rights?
Absolutely. It was an interesting day. This may have been 1994, the year I won the French Open, and I was really excited when I saw the draw. Anyway, we get out there and we're on the first hole and I decided I needed to pace out the yardage to the burn. I walk back and play my shot on to the green. A bit later on, at the 5th I think, I carve my second shot into the bushes and the only place I can drop is on the New Course, from where I don't have a yardage. So I pace it to the front edge from where I took my drop, and then knock it to 20 feet and holed it for par. Greg was on in two and three-putted. The next hole he hits into a horrible fairway bunker, couldn't get it out and makes double. I make birdie. So all of a sudden I'm walking onto the 7th tee and I'm a couple of shots ahead. As we're walking onto the tee, I hear Greg say to his caddie, “Hey Tony, what time does it get dark here?” He's having a pop at me for slow play. He's trying to wind me up. Tony Navarro says something like “I don't know Greg, but I think we'll be OK.” As we walk off the tee I say to Tony, “Are you implying that I'm a slow player?”, and Greg overhears. He says “Hey, Mark, what's the problem here?” And I tell him that I think he's having a pop at me about slow play, to which he replies ‘I thought gamesmanship was dead and buried on this tour a long time ago'. I go, “Whoa, whoa. Hang on, Greg, it's not me who's making stupid friggin' comments here.” And he stomped his foot in the sand and said “Let's get on with this f*@&ing game.” That was me all fired up. I said to Jimmy, right, that's it. We're not talking anymore, let's just get on with the game, we're off. I really want to beat him. Every hole I was 50 yards ahead of him. At the 18th we shook hands, 69 to 72. But I heard he'd had dinner with Robert Allenby and told him that no one had ever got to him on a golf course before. So that was a nice first – although it was never intentional, it was interesting to see a legend of the game getting so rattled.

Where have all the characters gone in golf these days?
That's a good question. Fortunately for the game of golf we do have the odd Ian Poulter, who single-handedly makes the game colourful. The game has a good image but it's not rich in terms of characters. The game has changed. Guys are coming through a much different culture. It may not be a coincidence that Poults did it the same way I did – i.e. through the pro shop – and I think maybe you are a bit more real as a result of that experience. You look at the likes of Rory McIlroy or Oliver Fisher, they were great as amateurs, they have been groomed to be tour players, and they're ready to play, but you can't quite see McIlroy standing in a corridor in a hotel with a fire hose waiting 45 minutes to let the hose off and knock a player clean off his feet.

Who did that?
Me [laughs hysterically].

Who did you hit?
Russell Claydon. The biggest player on the European Tour.

He had to be 18 stone.
Oh yeah, easily. This thing knocked him back into his hotel room. I had no clue how powerful those fire hoses are.

There was a reason for this, presumably?
What had happened was we had sat on the flight together on the way over and I was reading Jurassic Park. I was loving it. I don't read many books but this one had me hooked. Anyway later that evening after dinner I said I was heading back to the room to finish off the book. I got to the last chapter and it had gone. Turns out that when I'd nipped to the loo on the plane Claydon had ripped the last chapter out of my book. I was steaming. So I thought, right, I know where his room is and I'll get him in the morning. I set my alarm and was outside in the corridor at 8 waiting for him. There was a red fire hose in a box on the wall. So I unravelled it and we're talking a proper fire hose – 3” diameter pipe. Eventually I hear his door open and I cock the big brass lock on the hose and this things goes off and hits Russell in the middle of the chest. It just wiped him out.

Is the modern game to blame for the bland uniformity of it all now?
You'd have to say yes. Young guys these days seem to be taught in an almost robotic fashion. They've all got the psychologist and personal trainer thing going on before they even get out on Tour. It has become an immense part of the game. Look at the best golfer in the world, Tiger Woods, and look at the things that make him great – his fitness, his work ethic, the way he lives his life – it's no surprise that all young kids model themselves on that, what they perceive they need to do to be successful. The old school approach to learning how to play golf is out of the window. For me, it was a journey. And I was going to have some fun along the way. I wasn't going to be a robot. I wanted to be as good as I could be, but I also wanted it to be fun. A part of that for me was the practical jokes along the way and a lot of laughs.

Who do you rate out of the current crop of young European players?
Germany's Martin Kaymer. I see him as a great prospect. Totally fearless. He shot 59 in a German tour event. Obviously has that ability to go incredibly low. but incredibly low. I loved the way he tried to catch Tiger in Dubai. He thought he had, too, with a birdie-birdie-eagle finish. Didn't quite do it, but what a great prospect. Someone who focuses on winning, not making money.

And among the Brits?
I rate Oliver Fisher, very highly, a great prospect. I also rate Oliver Wilson – he's improving all the time. But as a guy who could be the next Faldo, I think Oliver Fisher is the pick of the current crop of young players. Zane Scotland is up there too. I honestly don't think he knows how good he can be.

What has to happen for the likes of Donald, Casey, Rose and Dougherty to move up a level?
You can't pick and choose when you are going to find that extra gear that is going to take you from a champion on the main tour to a major winner. A lot of components have to click into place and I think all those guys you mention are capable of winning a major championship. What Casey did at the Masters...I was so disappointed. He collapsed over the last 15 holes. They are all good enough so there must some mental issue that they have to overcome. But the most likely next major European champion in my book is Lee [Westwood]. His long game is so good, and nobody finishes off tournaments better than he does. He played as good as anybody tee to green at Augusta. If he'd putted well he would have won.

You feel too many young players make easy money?
There is so much money in the game of golf and it isn't biased towards winning. Top-10s amass huge amounts of money. You can do that a few times a year and make a great pile of cash without having to come up the last with the pressure of having a chance to win. The world rankings don't make any sense to me for that reason. Should a player like Steve Stricker be able to make it to the world No 3 winning just one event and a few good finishes in the Fed Ex Series? With all that, should be biased a little more heavily towards winning. That has to be the goal.

What do you think of the Race to Dubai? Is there not a danger than it can distort the Order of Merit? Or even render it meaningless?
I'm all for what George O'Grady is doing with the European Tour. I think it's fantastic. The thing about the Race to Dubai is that you'll have to have played very well to make the final event anyway. There is some talk about increasing the minimum number of events from 11 in order to maintain membership of the European Tour, so we'll see what happens there. I'm on the European Tour Players' Committee and there is only so much I can say at the moment. It has become a more global tour, and we are able to play in all corners of the world is fantastic. You can look at it in a negative way, but it does provide opportunity for the younger players. The more established guys are not going to travel as extensively. Look at Damian McGrane in April – he goes out to China, has a fantastic week and wins by nine shots.

Is there not a danger that we have lost many of the major national Opens?
The problem is it is very hard to find sponsor for these tournaments. What people tend to forget is that if the prize fund is £1 million, that tournament will cost the sponsor close to £3 million to put on. That's a lot of money, particularly in today's climate. That's a big undertaking. So the European Tour has had to go where the money is – emerging markets in Asia and China.

Do you think the European Tour will or should become the World Tour?
We will never compete with America. But the European Tour is already the second tour in the world. In many ways, thanks to its variety, you could argue it is more interesting.

Does it simply need rebranding?
We know it is becoming global. It is a world tour in many respects. Maybe in the future its title will reflect that.

The first name that pops into your head: Who impresses you most in golf?
Tiger Woods.

And the least?
Rory Sabbatini.

If you were in control of golf for one day, what would you be most likely to change?
The laws regarding equipment. I would take a big step backwards with the club and the ball. Technology is totally out of hand. The golf ball perhaps leads the way more than a lot of people believe. Look back through history and the ball has always been the strong part of the development of the game. Clubs evolved around the ball. The modern ball simply does not want to spin sideways. There is no variance in flight like there once was. Balls fly straighter, balls fly further. When you ally that to the changes in technology and the materials used in club construction, well, it's ridiculous how far these guys today hit the ball. Obviously it's a joy for the average club player to pick up the latest driver and get a kick out of hitting a long drive. But I think the skill went out of the game at the top level when the art of shaping shots went, and I blame the R&A 100% for this. The horse has long-since bolted. The manufacturers run rings around the R&A and now it's too late. We are one of the few sports in the world that doesn't play a uniform ball. Why not? I'd agree with Jack [Nicklaus] on this, the ball has to be looked at very closely and something needs to be done. Compression wise, dimple pattern wise. The problem is, I'm inherently old-school, I learnt to play the game shaping the ball. Now they don't need these skills.

So has technology given players of a lesser skill the tools they need to compete?
Massively. Technology has brought everyone closer together. There are players out there who were playing when I started who were distinctly average, and they are still out there because technology has assisted them in their ball striking. Technology has flattered them. On the flip-side of the coin, a naturally superb striker of the ball like Woosie hasn't benefited one iota. He was such a pure ball striker he left average guys 40 yards behind in his prime. The new gear hasn't helped him, but it's helped lesser ball strikers catch up. This is why you see cuts come down and scoring is so bunched. The guys bomb it 360 off the tee into the rough and they don't care – they hit it out with a wedge and back it up on the green. It's ridiculous. I heard a very interesting quote recently, in that Tiger Woods actually practises with an old persimmon driver and he is of the opinion he would like to go back and play with equipment as it was 20 years ago. If we did he'd be even more dominant, there would be more strength to his capabilities, and the fact that his ball striking is so good the difference would be magnified. He loves to change the flight and the shape.

Augusta certainly seems to have suffered?
What should be a living museum of a golf course has been changed beyond recognition. It's monstrous. The place has lost a lot of its charm. You don't get the roars ringing out at Augusta now like you used to – it's all groans as players bleed shots away. St Andrews needs to be careful it doesn't go the same way. Extending courses simply plays into the hands of the big hitters, while penalising the average hitter.

Torrey Pines will measure over 7,600 yards for the US Open – what's your immediate reaction to that?
My immediate reaction is that the game of golf has become utterly distorted. Surely the game of golf is about controlling the golf ball, shaping the golf ball, thinking your way around the golf course. As far as I can see it's lost its perspective. You don't need a golf course that long to be tough. Look at the Open qualifiers held at Sunningdale, or even humble Effingham where I play. One guy broke par. We're talking about a traditional style golf course where you have to shape it and keep it on the fairway and avoid the rough. So why do you suddenly need 7,600 yards?

What's wrong with a guy shooting 62 if he has the ability?
There's nothing wrong with it! I personally see that as entertainment. But on the other hand you can have some sympathy for the tournament venues for doing what they are doing because they are simply defending themselves against the onslaught of technology. If you want to look for someone to blame you have to lay that fairly and squarely at the door of the R&A clubhouse. Unfortunately they and the USGA are the governing bodies charged with looking after the interests of the game of golf. And they have failed.

We've just seen the first major of the year – how do you sum up events at Augusta?
A sheer triumph for Trevor Immelman. I have known him a while and I think he is a truly great player. I played with him and Sergio Garcia in the fourball championships down in Biarritz one year – Mark Farry was my partner. At the time Garcia was supposed to be the up and coming world beater, but I thought Immelman was the real deal and I can remember saying to Mark that this guy was better than Garcia by a long stretch. He really impressed me. And he's a great student of the game. OK, so Tiger putted like a human being for once in his life, and he winds up just a couple of shots back. But Trevor deserved the win. I was actually on a beach in Captiva that week so I didn't see an awful lot. And what I did see was the ABC coverage with Nick Faldo's commentary. So I turned the sound down.

You're not a fan of Faldo's commentary style then?
Well, the thing is, I hold very similar views to Paul Azinger. To the extent that I fully agree with the guy. You know, I switch on the TV, and I hear this voice on there, which is intelligent, which it is, informed, at times tries to be witty...and it's just not the Nick Faldo I knew as 21 years a player on tour. I'm not saying that's wrong, but I do agree with Azinger in that you cannot simply switch peoples attitudes back on just to suit a media career. Nick didn't speak to me for the better part of five years and I like to think I was reasonably friendly with him before that. It was all over a couple of quotes in a magazine article I had made when he went to play more in America. He never came and asked me what I had really said. He took the magazine a face value and blanked me. If he had asked had I been misquoted, I could have set the record straight. He knows the way the press work and yet he didn't extend me the courtesy. I'm not saying we were great friends before that – let's face it Nick wasn't great friends with anyone – but we had a relationship of sorts and he it is very difficult to be aloof for 20 years and then crack a couple of jokes and think everyone is suddenly going to be your best mate.

What do you think Nick will be like as Ryder Cup captain?
Extremely organised. Meticulous. The ultimate in terms of preparation ahead of the match. He will leave no stone unturned in his pursuit of victory – as he did throughout his whole career. I think he'll speak well and do the job that is required. But I think it will be a very difficult match for him.

Difficult because the Americans will be strong or difficult because he is likely to have a young and inexperienced team?
Both. And right now Azinger may have a slight psychological advantage over Nick in the media. All the banter, the retorts, it seems 40-love to Azinger at the moment. But Nick commands a lot of respect on the golfing stage and the young players will want to do well for him. It's not going to be a nine-point landslide this time. We will take a good team with us but it's going to be tough.

How do you begin to put into context events of July 2003?
To even begin to do that you have to understand what the Open always meant to me. The Open is the highlight of any year. That went back to my father driving me all over the country to watch. I saw some of the most wonderful sporting occasions. I remember going to Turnberry in 1977 and watching the ‘Duel in the Sun' with Nicklaus and Watson, running all over the course to sneak a view of these great champions battling it out. From that moment I was never going to be anything but a golf professional. I remember seeing these guys, getting their autograph. I was at the Ryder Cup Walton Heath in 1981 to see one of their greatest ever teams – Trevino, Watson, Nicklaus, Player, Miller, Floyd – what a team. But the Open was special. I played in 12 in all. I qualified at Gullane for the first time in 1987, the year Faldo won with 18 straight pars at Muirfield. I played with Ben Crenshaw in the last round and he put on the greatest display of putting I have ever seen – he hit the hole 18 times that round. We started in 40th place, or thereabouts, he shot 68 and moved to 3rd, I shot 72 and moved to 16th. I can also remember shooting 68 last round at St Andrews. That was 1990. I finished 16th and I remember getting into the car and calling my dad to tell him. Of course he'd died in April that year. I just pulled over to the hard shoulder and cried my eyes out. The Open always meant so much to the both of us and the natural thing to do was ring him.

Fast forward to 2003 at Royal St George's.
Life was good going in to that Open. My private life had been a little up and down prior to that summer, we had recently moved from Sheffield down to Leatherhead and life was finding its balance again. That's something a lot of people forget when it comes to professional golfers. They are subject to life and all that it brings. Anyway, we set off for Sandwich and I remember there was this fantastic house we saw not long after we set off and I said to Julia: “Tell you what, I'll win the Open this week and we'll come back and buy that house.” Anyway I went to St George's, practice felt great. I love the golf course. It was right up my street, running hard, a shot-makers course. I didn't have a great first day, shot 75. The second day I went out and started 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 and had a putt for a three on the 7th. I can remember thinking ‘this will be the greatest start in Open championship history'. Missed it, obviously. Wound up shooting 70 and made the cut comfortably.

Then you were drawn with Jesper Parnevik in the third round.
I had played lots of golf with Jesper, a great guy. And I was looking forward to this. We were both on the putting green 15 minutes or so before tee off and then I walked to the tee in plenty of time. I had a chat with Ivor [Robson, official starter] and he handed me my scorecard. Didn't think any more of it. Jesper seemed to be taking an eternity to come to the tee and Ivor actually asked me if I'd seen him. I told him he was on the putting green with me. Anyway, a minute or so later he arrives right on the button, a minute to spare. Ivor announces our match, it's my honour, I stuff the card in my bag and I'm off. Knocked it down the middle and we were away. I started off quite nicely, but Jesper wasn't playing so great. He eventually shot 81. I holed my second shot on the 13th for a two, looked across and I was top of the leaderboard in the Open. I came up the last with a putt for 66, two putted for 67. Blew three kisses as I sometimes did to Julia and the two girls, hoping they were watching somewhere. We went into the scorers hut and sat down to do the paperwork. And I mean to the nth degree. I ticked the scores as I went through them over and over again. Called the lady scorer and checked with her calling them out, hole by hole. Two signatures, checked that. Thirty two and 35 for a 67. Ticked them all off one by one. The official from the R&A took the card, looked me straight in the eye and said: “35 + 32 = 67, congratulations, great round Mr Roe, you're free to go.” And those were his words, still crystal clear in my head.

Presumably this must have been the greatest buzz in your tournament career?
Without a doubt. I did the interview with the BBC's Hazel Irvine, then talked to ESPN. And then a few minutes later a guy from the R&A came up to me and said there was a problem in the scorers' hut. As I walked back I was certain I'd made a mistake on Jesper's card. I knew I hadn't made a mistake on mine. I'd been over the scores a hundred times. Jesper had shot 81 – I must have made an error on his card and I was thinking what I'd say to him. I didn't think he'd be that upset given the day he's had. So I walk in the scorers hut, see Jesper and say: “Have I cocked up your card mate?” “No Roey,” he said, “it's worse than that.” And I'm thinking what can be worse than that? Then I look down and the two scorecards are laid on the table. I look down and see it straight away: Mark Roe 81, Jesper Parnevik 67. And I can't take it in to start with. Then I said to the R&A's David Pepper, “We've not exchanged cards have we?” “No,” he said, “you've written your scores on the wrong scorecards.” I knew immediately we were both disqualified.

What did Jesper say?
Well, as the R&A guy was apologising, Jesper just went ballistic. A fit of expletives. “This is bullshit. In today's game you know that the scores we have recorded are correct” and so on. Other than what was coming out of Jesper's mouth there was a stunned silence in the cabin. I said Jesper, “It's OK. It's my mistake and you have to apply the Rules of Golf. And I have to accept it.” So then I had to come back out to do all the interviews again as someone now not playing in the Open Championship. I left. Got in the car and drove home. I can't say I drove home slowly because I didn't, I drove home very quickly. Stopped to buy a bottle of rose champagne. Walked in the house and Julia didn't know what to say to me. I just sat on my beanbag and drank the champagne until I fell asleep.

Did you watch it the next day?
That was almost worse. We watched Thomas [Bjorn] leading and then have that disaster in the bunker at 16. And I felt so deeply for him because we're good pals. If I wasn't going to have my chance of playing with Tiger in the last round of the Open – whom I would have been paired with, two shots behind the leaders – I wished he'd won. Instead Ben Curtis wins. A total outsider. Made me think what might have been. Once it was all done and dusted I went upstairs and cried my eyes out for an hour.

Was that the only time you've been disqualified?
No, I had a Rules infringement at the Irish Open. I took a club-length's drop from a sprinkler head by the green, unaware they'd changed the rule to nearest point of relief. I was actually going to drop at nearest point and then my playing partner, Ken Brown, said to me “You know you've got a club-length.” So I dropped it within a club-length and then John Paramour called me that night while I was in the bath to tell me I'd been seen on TV taking an incorrect drop and I was disqualified. (Thanks, Ken).

Have the R&A changed the Rule relating to the scorecard mix-up?
They have. They called me afterwards to say how much they appreciated the way I handled it all. I got a lot of support letters and cards from all over the world. One I remember was from a steelworker in Pennsylvania who said that he didn't know me, was never likely to meet me, but that he was watching the coverage on TV and the way I handled it all made him very proud. And he understood why his father had introduced him to golf – because it was a gentlemen's sport. David Rickman called me last year to say that there were now processes in place that would mean it will never happen again. So at least I have contributed to a change in the Rules in a positive way.

A situation like that simply highlights how incredibly stupid they can be.
Absolutely. Under the scrutiny of the TV cameras, two guys have played a round of golf, written their scores correctly down on a card, with an official scorer doing the same over 18 holes, and just because you haven't swapped cards you are eliminated.

Which Rule of Golf would you change given the opportunity?
One Rule? Allowing caddies to line players up from behind the shot. Surely your alignment and standing to the ball is part and parcel of the skill involved. It happens on the men's tour and it's ever-present on the ladies circuit. I'm sorry, that's ridiculous. It's a very important skill of the game. Can you imagine someone standing behind Ronnie O'Sullivan helping him aim his cue?

You retired in 2006 at the Dunhill Links – easy decision or not?
In the end it was, thanks to a combination of factors. The game was changing, the tour becoming more global, involving more travel, which I was not enjoying. Remember, I'd been out there for 21 years, which is a long time. I was missing the children and beginning to resent getting in the taxi and leaving the family on a Tuesday morning. My wife, Julia, not having a normal family relationship, being on her own to bring the children up. I wanted more balance in that regard. And also inside of me I knew that the desire to work at it was waning a little bit. For all the joking around I did work hard, and that was no longer the case. I needed to draw a line under it, I'm not the sort of person who can just drift. I wanted some clarity and so decided that as St Andrews was the place I love more than anywhere else I thought that was the place to call it a day. Bring it full circle. I was desperate to make the cut, which I did. In the end I finished 14th, shot 67 in my final competitive round. And that was just magical. My wife and the girls were there as I came off the final green, and I couldn't imagine ending it any better.

Do you miss it?
No. Not the travelling, not the lifestyle. I was fortunate to get involved with Sky Sports, and it's been fantastic. I'm back working with my mate Robert Lee, the lovely Di Stewart and two great coaches in Denis Pugh and Simon Holmes – it's a great team.

There's a learning curve with that presumably?
Yes. Golf Night is a live TV show, so you have to be comfortable doing live TV. There's a settling in period certainly. It takes a while to be yourself.

Do you think Sky have the right format?
I can't speak for viewers, but I enjoy the shows and the feedback I get is that people who watch the show enjoy it. We all do our research, just as you would prepare for a tournament. You try to do the best job you can. At the end of the day you cannot control other people's opinions. It's an excellent team and I feel very lucky to have walked out of playing golf and into a new career in the media where I always enjoy going to work. There are some exciting things in the pipeline.

In addition to that you've earned something of a reputation as a short game guru?
It was no plan of mine to be helping anyone with their game but there I was up at Loch Lomond with Ewan Murray last year and Lee Westwood comes in to the locker room and we started chatting. He was hitting the ball great but his short game was terrible. I told him there were loads of things he could do to improve. He asked me to help him and it was that chance meeting that set me off as a short game coach. Funnily enough, Marc Warren asked me to help his bunker play the same week. Stats tell you that between 2004 to 2006/7 I was the best bunker player out of traps on any tour. I feel comfortable with the short game, so I'm comfortable talking about it. I like the creativity involved.

So maybe Seve had more effect on your career than even you realised?
I'd like to think so.